Monday, March 14, 2011

Handed back Ball and Soap Lab, Newton's Law of Cooling Lab

Asked for input on how to make the class better.
Students can do Tsokos problems for credit. Problems must be shown in detail using good problem solving strategy.

Handed back and went over Heat and Thermo test in detail.

On Wednesday, students will do a lab investigating motion of a floating object. Please let me know tomorrow if you need equipment for Wednesday's Lab. Students should use Vernier Equipment in some fashion.

Started SHM
Reviewed equations of motion for constant force
Reviewed Uniform circular motion in which force has a constant magnitude but continually changes direction.
Described SHM - periodic motion that repeats over the same path in which there is a restoring force proportional to the displacement.

SHM: F = - k x
for a spring, k is the spring constant. It is always a positive number.
Showed how to measure the spring constant using Newton's First Law.

Described amplitude, period, frequency

Described radians.
Showed that angular velocity = linear velocity/R = 2 * pi/Period = 2 * pi * f

Finished with short demo using turntable that SHM is a 1-D projection of 2-D Uniform Circular Motion.